


Kitty's Palace - an ATC to Kitty Cornered

by Singerme



Category: Gunsmoke
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-30
Updated: 2014-05-30
Packaged: 2018-01-27 15:15:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1715195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Singerme/pseuds/Singerme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Dodge folk feel a little ashamed for not believing Kitty when she warned them about Stella Damon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kitty's Palace - an ATC to Kitty Cornered

**Kitty’s Palace.  An ATC to Kitty Cornered**

I don’t own these characters.  I just like to spend time with them.  No other profit to be had.

**(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(****)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)**

“Morning, Festus.” Kitty smiled at him as she saw him approaching on the boardwalk.

Festus, carrying several boards, stumbled when he saw her and promptly dropped the lumber on to the boardwalk. One piece flipped up and would’ve hit Kitty in the leg if she hadn’t backed up a step.

“Sorry, Miss Kitty.” Festus apologized as he hastily gathered the wood back up into his arms and quickly scurried down the nearest alley.

Kitty frowned at him for a moment but shrugged his strange off and went her way. She needed to get to the bank and make her deposit.  Besides, it wouldn’t be the first time Festus acted strange.

Once out of her sight, Festus paused and turned back, peeking around the corner at his friend as she made her way on down the sidewalk. He didn’t want to be rude, especially to her, but he was afraid, he’d spill the beans if he stopped to talk.

“There you are.” Quint grumbled when he finally made it down to the blacksmith’s shop. “Where’ve you been?”

“Aw, I was a tryin’ to git these here boards and I run inta Miss Kitty then I dropped these thangs and…”

“Alright, alright.” Quint waved off any long winded explanations. “Doesn’t matter. Come on, we’ve got a lot of work to get done.”

Festus nodded. “Shore do. Ya figger we’ll git er done on time?”

Quint shook his head. “Not if you don’t quit talking.”

While Quint and Festus went about their work, Kitty finished her business with the bank and then headed to Delmonico’s for breakfast. Though, not often up this hour of the morning, and certainly seldom hungry this early, she was today and decided to treat herself to at least coffee and one of their sweet rolls.

When she stepped down into the café, she saw Matt and Doc hunkered down at a table near the back. Both of them looked to be in a serious discussion and she hesitated, not wanting to interrupt, but looking around, there were no other tables. Besides, she doubted they’d have a problem with her joining them.

“Well, good morning, gentlemen.” She grinned at her two favorite men as she stepped up to the table.

Both men stopped speaking and looked up at her.

“Oh, uh, well, good morning, Kitty.” Matt nodded at her as he quickly rose and pulled out a chair for her.

“Morning.” Doc smiled briefly at her as he grabbed his hat and got to his feet. “Well, I guess I’d better take off. Matt, Kitty, see ya later.”

“Oh, uh, well, wait, Doc. I’ll go with you. I’ve got some things to see to. See ya later, Kitty.” He too grabbed his hat and before Kitty could offer a word of protest, he and Doc were gone.

“Well, I’ll be.” She muttered with a shake of her head as she watched them practically run from the restaurant. “You’d think I had a disease or something.”

Once outside of the café, Matt and Doc paused and glanced back in at the lovely yet confused lady at the table they’d just left.

“You think she heard anything?” Doc looked up at Matt.

“Naw,” Matt shook his head. “I don’t think so. But we’re going to have to be careful from now on. I didn’t even know she was there until she spoke.”

“Me neither.” Doc took a scrub of his mustache. “All I can say is we were mighty lucky.”

“Don’t I know it.” Matt told him.

The rest of that week was pretty much the same way for the increasingly irritated red head. Each time she would see one of her friends and approach; they would smile and then quickly get away from her as fast as they could. She had no idea what was going on but she was beginning to be greatly concerned.

“Sam?” She looked at him with genuine concern one night when Quint had once again made a hasty exit as soon as she stepped up next to him. “Do I smell or something?”

Sam looked at her curiously. “Huh?”

“Me.” Kitty repeated. “Do I smell or something? Lately it seems every time I come near Doc, or Matt or Festus or even Quint, they suddenly have something else to do somewhere else. I’m beginning to take it personally.”

“Aw, no, Miss Kitty.” Sam shook his head. “They’ve just been real busy, is all. It’s nothing to do with you, I’m sure.”

Kitty didn’t argue but she didn’t exactly agree with him either. Something told her they were hiding something. That, of course, meant she wanted more than ever to figure out what it was. Looking towards the doors, she saw just the person who could tell her, passing by.

“Festus!” She exclaimed, quickly rushing to the doors and grabbing his arm, pulling him into the saloon before he could escape. “Let me buy you a beer.”

“Uh, uh… well, bliged to ya, Miss Kitty, but I cain’t right now. I was a looking for ol’ Matthew. Ya seen him lately, have ya?”

“No, Festus, I haven’t.” Kitty scowled at him. “As a matter of fact I haven’t seen too much of anyone lately. What’s going on, Festus. What are you all trying to hide from me?”

Festus swallowed hard as he looked down at the lovely woman, knowing if he didn’t leave soon, he’d tell her everything. “Uh… uh… going on?”

“Festus…” Kitty placed her hand on her hip prepared to get the information out of him one way or the other. But she was suddenly interrupted by Louie coming in the door.

“Festus!” He called urgently as he stumbled into the saloon. “You’d best come quick. It’s Ruth!”

“Ruth!” Festus pulled his arm out of Kitty’s grasp and hurriedly turned for the doors. “Sorry, Miss Kitty. Gotta go.”

Before Kitty could offer a word of protest Festus was gone, and Louie was right behind him. Closing her eyes in frustration, Kitty turned and went back to the bar with a shake of her head. “Sam, gimme a whiskey.” She sighed.

Outside of the saloon, Festus darted a glance back inside and looked down gratefully at his friend. “Louie, I sure do wanna thank ya, fer saving me like ya done. I thought I was a goner fer shore.”

“That’s alright, Festus.” Louie smiled up at him. “I’m glad I could help.”

As the two friends hurried away from the saloon, Doc slowly pushed his way in and made his way across the barroom to Kitty’s side. “Evening, Kitty.” He smiled over at her.

Kitty eyed him suspiciously. After the way he and the others had been avoiding her, his sudden appearance at her side was questionable.

“Doc.” She nodded over at him.

“Looks kinda busy tonight, don’t it?” He observed without ever really looking her in the eye.

“Yeah,” Kitty acknowledge as she swept her eyes around the room and then looked back down appraisingly at him. “But how good my business is, has nothing to do with you being here, does it?”

Doc took a scrub of his mustache and added a tug to his ear. The woman could read him almost as well as she could read Matt. “No, no, it doesn’t, Kitty.” He admitted. “Truth is, I need some help. I’m riding out to see some of my patients tomorrow morning finishing up at the Snowden’s and I thought… well…”

“You thought I’d go with you and corral the Snowden kids while you checked on Mrs. Snowden.” Kitty finished for him.

Doc nodded. “Yeah, I sure did. Would you? Would you go with me?” He smiled hopefully at her.

Kitty shook her head with a smile. “I should say no, for the way you’ve been avoiding me lately.”

Doc’s smile dropped off and he took another nervous swipe at his mustache. “Well, I… I wasn’t really…”

“But I’ll go.”  She stopped his attempt.   “I’d love to see that new little baby.  What time?”

“Oh, about eight.” Doc answered quickly. “I know it’s early but it’s a long way out there and…”

“I said, I’ll go, Doc.” Kitty told him. “But you will owe me for this one.”

Doc nodded. “Don’t worry, I’ll pay you back.” He told her with a grin.

The next morning, promptly at eight in the morning, Doc and Kitty set off in his buggy for the Snowden’s farm. Soon after, the doors of the Long Branch saloon opened wide and people began to stream in.

“You think she’ll be surprised, Marshal?” Sam asked as he and the Marshal worked together to move tables and chairs away from a portion of the barroom.

Matt nodded. “Oh, she’ll be surprised alright. I can promise you that.”

The rest of the day went quickly for the residents of Dodge who were working diligently at the saloon as well as the red headed owner of said saloon and the physician she was helping.

Or at least, was supposed to be helping. As Doc rather silently drove them back into town later that evening, Kitty couldn’t really say she’d done all that much. She’d played with the Snowden’s infant daughter and three sons and chatted with Minnie Carver as well as petted the McDonald’s dog, Bess. But other than that, there hadn’t been much Doc really needed her for.

“Doc, tell me the truth.” Kitty finally looked over at him as they were nearing town. “What’d you really want me along for today? You didn’t really need any help and you know it.”

Doc said nothing as they entered the town and got closer to the Long Branch. Finally, when it was almost in sight, Doc turned and grinned over at her. “You’re right, Kitty. I didn’t need help. But I did need to keep you away from the Long Branch for a while.”

Kitty arched a brow at him. “Why?”

The saloon was finally in sight and Doc reined in the horse and came to a stop. “Because of that.” He beamed over at her and pointed to the front of her business.

Kitty turned her head and looked towards her saloon and her mouth dropped open. “Oh, my!” She gasped. “Oh, my.”

Doc reached over and took her hand. “Hope you like it.”

Kitty registered his words but she couldn’t reply as she took in the sight before her. The lights to her saloon were blazing and the doors were open wide. Above, hanging from the balcony, was a large sign proclaiming this to be “The Long Branch” and under that was proudly written, “Kitty’s Palace.” The sign was brightly lit with burning candles in sconces all along the bottom of the sign. Loud music was coming from inside and the sound of much laughter could be heard.

“Shall we go in?” Doc asked with a grin as he got out of the buggy and went around to her side, extending an arm.

Kitty could only nod as she got out and took Doc’s arm. If she thought the outside was amazing, she was dumbfounded when she saw the interior.

As soon as she and Doc stepped inside, the noise came to a complete stop and everyone turned their heads in her direction. Matt, who’d been waiting pensively at the bar, quickly made his way over to her and extended a hand. “Kitty.” He smiled at her. “Welcome to your palace.”

Kitty was at a total loss for words as she looked around her and then at the back of the room where sitting somewhat incongruously in the middle of the floor was a runway, like the one Stella had built in her place. Only this one was a little higher and a little shorter than Stella’s.

Taking her by the arm, Matt led her through the silent bar room and towards the steps leading up onto the runway. “We wanted you to know how sorry we were, Kitty.” Matt whispered to her. “We should’ve listened to you about Stella.”

Kitty couldn’t stop the tears that leaked from her eyes to roll down her cheeks as she followed Matt up onto the stage. She was stunned at what they done for her.

“Folks!” Matt raised his voice commandingly. “Folks, first of all, I want to thank you all for being here. We all owe Miss Russell here an apology and thanks for putting up with us and for not being taken in by Stella Damon like the rest of us were. And second of all, I want you all to give the lady of the hour a hand.”

Matt stepped back and began to clap his hands and was soon joined by every person in the place. The noise was thundering and Kitty couldn’t have been heard even if she had words to say to them.

When the clapping finally dwindled and the noise level came down, Kitty, urged on by Matt, stepped forward and looked around at all the faces, surrounding her. Everyone from Mr. Botkin to Louie was there. Even Bess and Will Ronniger were standing near the back of the saloon. Quickly dashing away another errant tear, Kitty smiled beautifully at the many people there and said “Thank you.” She couldn’t manage anything more.

Later that night, after everyone had gone home and the lights had been extinguished and all was quiet, two people lay lovingly next to each other in a large brass bed, reflecting on the evening’s events.

“I still can’t believe you all did that.” Kitty shook her head. “I’ve never been so shocked in all my life.”

Matt pulled her closer and dropped a kiss onto her forehead. “You deserved it.” He told her. “You were the only one to see how treacherous she was and we didn’t believe you. We felt like we had to do something to show you how sorry we were and how much we care about you.”

Kitty looked up at him. “I know how much you care about me. You all didn’t have to go to this extreme to show me. I can only imagine how much time and money you spent on all of that.”

“Not as much as you think.” He grinned.

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“Well,” Matt shrugged. “We did spend quite a bit of time, but as for money, it really wasn’t all that much. We salvaged as much wood as we could from Stella’s place and Mr. Jonas donated the nails and things. And as for the liquor… well, let’s just say, Stella herself donated that.”

Kitty was clearly shocked. “Stella… _she_ donated the liquor?”

Matt chuckled. “Well, sort of.”

“What do you mean, sort of?” She narrowed her eyes at him.

“She had a store of liquor setting down at the depot waiting on her.” Matt explained. “It was already paid for and just waiting to be picked up. Since she’s been convicted of murder and her saloon is no more, the state confiscated that liquor and gave me the duty to dispose of it. So I did.”

“Matt Dillon.” Kitty gasped with a giggle. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with you.”

Matt pulled her back to him again, and this time his lips sought hers. “I’ve got some ideas.” He wiggled a brow at her when their lips finally parted.

As the citizens of Dodge City slept, Kitty Russell reveled in the arms of the man she loved, secure in the knowledge that to him and several others, she was the queen of Dodge and the Long Branch the only real palace.

The End.


End file.
